George
Howell,
the eldest of eight children, was born in Wrington, Somerset, on 5th
October 1833. His father owned a small general builders but found
it difficult to find enough work to support his family. At the age
of twelve Howell left his Church of England
school in Bristol and started work with
his father. After a period as a mortar-boy he became a bricklayer.
He worked a twelve hour day but used his Sundays for reading. Early
favourites included Foxe's Book
of Martyrs
and Bunyan's Pilgrim's
Progress.
Howell disliked the heavy work of the building trade and found employment
as an apprentice shoemaker. Several of the men held radical political
views who were active Chartists. They introduced
him to the newspapers such as the Northern
Star and the Red Republican
and in 1848 Howell joined the Chartist
movement.
Several of the shoemakers were also Methodists
and Howell was persuaded to attend meetings at the Wrington Chapel.
Howell was converted and became a lay preacher. He also became an
active member of the local Temperance Society.
In 1854 George
Howell moved to London. Unable to find
work as a shoemaker, he returned to his former trade of bricklaying.
Howell attended a large number of political meetings where he met
Karl Marx, George
Holyoake, Charles Bradlaugh and
Frederic Harrison.
Howell joined the Operative Bricklayers'
Society and in 1859 became involved in an industrial dispute over
demands for a nine-hour day. Howell joined the strike committee and
soon emerged along with Robert Applegarth
and George Potter as one of the main leaders
of the union. As a result of his union activities he was blacklisted
and for the next five years found it impossible to work as a bricklayer.
In 1861 he was elected to the executive of
the London
Trades Council and soon afterwards became its secretary. A strong
supporter of universal suffrage, in 1865 Howell became full-time Secretary
of the Reform League. Howell organised
massive demonstrations in London in 1866 and 1867 and played an important
role in persuading Benjamin Disraeli
and his Conservative government to
pass the 1867 Reform Act.
Disappointed by the scale of this reform, Howell continued to campaign
for universal suffrage. He retained his involvement in the trade union
movement and in 1871 was appointed
as Secretary of the newly established Trade Union
Congress. In the 1870s he also contributed regularly to The
Bee-Hive and published several books on trade unionism including
A
Handy Book of the Labour Laws
(1876), Conflicts
of Capital and Labour
(1878),
Trade
Unionism New and Old
(1891)
and Labour
Legislation, Labour Movements and Labour Leaders
(1902).
Howell tried several times to be elected to
the House of Commons. He failed in the
the general elections of 1868, 1874
and 1881 but was finally won as the Lib-Lab
candidate in Bethnal Green in 1885. One of Howell's main achievements
in Parliament was helping the passing of the Merchant
Shipping Bill that improved the working conditions of merchant seamen.
Howell successfully defending his Bethnal Green seat in 1886
and 1892 but was defeated by the Conservative
candidate in the 1895 General Election.
In poor health, Howell retired from
public life. His friend, Robert Applegarth
and the Trade Union Congress raised a £1650
testimonial to buy him an annuity. George Howell on 16th September,
1910.
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